Elle's secret
by Knew at this
Summary: Au what would have happened if Elle's dad had started to fall apart after her mom died. Contains abuse and alcohol
1. Chapter 1

Setting: around halfway through the kissing booth, after Elle and Noah get together, but before lee finds out. Elle and Noah are still keeping the details of their relationship secret, but people have noticed that they are hanging out more. Everything is the same, except after Elle's mom died 5 years ago her home life has steadily been getting worse.

Elle POV

I got home from Lee's a little after 6 that Friday night. My dad was going on a date and I needed to make dinner for myself and Brad.

I fried up some chicken tenders, boiled some pasta, and opened up a jar of spaghetti sauce. It was done in about 20 minutes.

"BRAD! WASH YOUR HANDS AND COME DOWN FOR DINNER" I shouted up the stairs. I set out two plates, two glasses of water, two forks and knives, and took all of the food to the table, still in the pots they were cooked in.

"BRAD, COME ON DINNER'S DONE!" I shouted again. He came running down the stairs saying, "I'm coming, I'm coming"

"Did you wash your hands?"

"Yesss" he said exasperatedly

as they served themselves I asked, "so how was school?"

"We had a sub today in English and—"

Brad went on to talk about the shenanigans he and his friends got into at school, but I wasn't really listening. Lee and Rachel had last period off, so they had gone to the beach for a few hours which meant Noah had taken me home on his motorcycle. That gave us almost two hours to ourselves before lee got home and found us playing video games in the living room, although that was not all we had been doing. If Noah hadn't heard the car door slam, lee would've walked in on us making out.

It was almost seven now and dad was hurrying around getting ready for his date. "Have either of you seen my wallet anywhere?" He asked.

"No, sorry"

"It wasn't in the kitchen"

Brad continued on about school.

"Ahh, here it is! I gotta get going now otherwise I'm going to be late."

"Alright, what time will you be home?"

"Probably around ten thirty or eleven. You will be asleep when I get home, so I will say goodnight now" he told Brad, kissing him on the head.

"Have fun!"

Brad and I cleaned up for dinner. Because it was Friday I didn't make brad do any homework, instead we ate ice cream and watched the fourth Harry Potter movie. After the movie I made brad go to bed so I could call Noah without him eavesdropping.

"Hey"

"Hey Shelley"

"I had fun today"

"We almost got caught"

We talked about telling lee and what would happen if walks in on us like he almost did. We talked about everything and nothing in particular, just enjoying the sound of each other's voice. At eleven thirty I heard my dad pull into the drive way.

"I should probably go anyway, I have practice in the morning"

"Okay, talk to you later then"

"Yeah, bye"

I went to go brush my teeth and wash off my make up.

Dad had brought his date inside and they were having a glass of wine.

I went back to my room and went to bed. I woke up about half and hour later when I heard:

ThUMp

Bang BaNg

"Shhhahaha, my kids are sleeeeping"

I heard my dad say just outside my door, obviously tipsy.

I rolled over and went back to sleep.

Except I couldn't fall back to sleep. The noises coming from my father's room, the room right next to mine, we're gradually becoming louder as my father and his date forgot there weren't alone in the house. I put my headphones in and put the music on real loud. It may have been my imagination exaggerating it because I knew what was going on, but even with my headphones in I couldn't fall back to sleep. I texted lee to see if he was still awake. He was. I told him I was coming over.

I got up, grabbed a sweatshirt, and put my shoes on. Before I left I checked on Brad—his room was on the other side of mine—but he was sound asleep. I grabbed my keys and walked out the front door. I walked the ten minutes to Lee's house and had him come unlock the back door when I got there. We snuck back up to his room, we had to go pretty carefully because his floor creeks in spots and his parents' room is the first one at the top of the stairs.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" Lee asked jokingly.

"My dad had a date, right? So he gets home at like 11:30, an hour later than he said he'd be, which is fine, no big deal. But he brought his date in and they had something to drink and are now incapable of discretion. MY room is right next to his, I dOn'T want to hear all that!"

"Uuuggghhh! Shelley!"

"I know right! And the worst part is, this isn't even the first time! He meets a girl, goes on like three dates, then they're banging up against our SHARED WALL!"

"That's awful! You're always welcome here, especially if all that's going on!"

"Thanks Lee. I kinda feel guilty though because I know it took him a long time to get over my mom's death, and I want him to be happy and find someone and everything, but none of his relationships seem to last more than a few months"

"That's a tuff situation. I don't know. You can always come hangout with me, brad too"

"Thanks Lee, you're a great friend"

After that we played video games for a few hours until we both fell asleep on his bed.

"LEE THERE'S PANCAKES HERE IF YOU WANT THEM" Noah yelled from downstairs in the kitchen.

I sat up.

"Lee what time is it?" "11"

"Shit! I was supposed to take Brad to little league at 9! My dad's gonna kill me! I have to go!"

I ran out the back door and made it home 3 minutes faster than usual.

The cars in the driveway, so either they're already back, or my dad didn't even take Brad to the game.

I walk in the front door and my dad is at the kitchen table drinking a glass of black coffee.

"Where have you been?" He asks

"I went to Lee's this morning, I totally forgot I was supposed to drive Brad until like five minutes ago. I'm so sorry!"

"I called the Flynn's this morning, they said Lee hadn't woken up yet and that they hadn't seen you this morning"

"I went to Lee's last niGht because I couldn't sLEEP WITH YOU TWO BEING SO LOUD, OKAY?" I shouted

He grabbed my arm roughly, "wATCH yoUr TONE, YOUNG LADY" he warned

"WHAT? ITS TRUUE ISNT IT?" I shouted back.

He slapped me across the face with his free hand. I would've fallen if he didn't still have my upper arm in an iron grip.

"You do not speak to your father that way, do you understand?"

I nod, my hand still holding my cheek.

"Go to your room"

He shoves me towards the stairs and releases my arm.

I don't go to my room. I go to the bath room and look in the mirror. I have a thin, shallow scratch from where his nail fought when he slapped me. It goes from under the outside of my right eye to the bridge of my nose. It's not too bad, and it should be gone in two or three days. Thankfully he slapped me with his non dominant hand, so I'm not going to get a black eye or anything. I look at my left arm. It's already starting to bruise. That'll be harder to explain as it goes almost all the way around my upper arm and is roughly hand shaped.

I go to my room. I can't believe I talked back to him like that. That was so stupid. When has that ever gone well for me? yNever, that's when. I'm too upset to do homework so I put my headphones in and listen to some music. I text Noah.

 _E: Hey_

 _N: Hey, you ran out of here pretty fast this morning, everything okay?_

 _E: Yeah, I was supposed to drive Brad to little league this morning, but I forgot :/ my dad was pretty pissed_

 _N: that sucks_

We talked for a while, but Noah had to go have lunch with his family because it was his uncle's birthday.

I started homework around one.

When Brad got home from his team lunch after the game I apologized for not being there to drive him this morning.

He didn't really mind; he likes driving with his friend anyway, his friends mom always has snacks.

When I texted Lee that night I told him that I had tripped and fell into a bush on my way home, and the branches scratched my face. That way there'd be no questions on Monday. I just couldn't where a tank top and no one would notice anything.


	2. Chapter 2

A few weeks later

Saturday morning we went out for brunch with the Flynns. My dad and mr and mrs Flynn all got mimosas. It was a pretty normal brunch.

Brad had to grab his backpacking go work on a science project after brunch, so I dropped dad at the house while brad grabbed his stuff. When I got home from dropping brad off I found my dad on the couch drinking a beer. There was already an empty bottle by the kitchen sink.

I went upstairs to my room and started my English essay. I was two paragraphs into an essay on Puritan Axiology as illustrated through the rhetoric and diction of Nathaniel Hawthorn's _The Scarlet Letter_ when I heard the garage door open and the car start down stairs. I ran down to the garage, slid into the passenger seat, and turned the car off with it still in reverse.

"Dad! What are you doing? You just had like two beers!"

"I'm fine! What'd you stop the car for!?" He asked, his words slurring slightly.

"You can't drive like this! You'll get yourself killed!"

"I'm fine!" He said, getting out of the car.

I got out too, slamming the door, "you're NOT fine dad! You're DRUNK!"

I don't know what it was about that statement that bothered him more than the others, but at that he got angry, "WHAT? YOU THINK I CANT DRIVE? I CAN DRIVE BETTER WITH MY EYES SHUT THAN YOU CAN DRIVE AT ALL!"

"IM SORRY I DONT WANT YOU TO DIE ON US LIKE MOM DID!"

He punched me in the face, and I fell down, clutching my left eye.

"DONT TALK ABOUT YOUR MOTHER THAT WAY! YOU THINK SHE WANTED TO DIE? SHE LOVED YOU—you both!" He stormed up to his room, tears streaming silently down his face.

I got up, sat down in the drivers seat, turned the car on, put in in park, put the parking break on, turned off the car and took the keys out of the ignition. I kept the car keys with me, grabbed an ice pack and a kitchen towel and headed up to my room. I locked the door and sobbed into my pillow. I cried until I could summon the energy to sob anymore. When I calmed down a bit, I got out my computer and pulled up The Office on Netflix. I was just starting another episode when the phone started ringing. I let it ring out. Five minutes later my phone started ringing, I paused The Office and answered the phone.

"Elle, has dad left yet? He's not answering his phone! Teddy has to go out to dinner with his grandparents in 20 minutes, someone needs to pick me up!"

"I'm leaving right now Brad I'll be there in 15 minutes"

I grabbed my sunglasses and a baseball cap and headed out the door.

When I picked up Brad he was still upset.

"Dad was supposed to pick me up an hour ago! What happened?" He asked angrily

"Nothing happened happened Brad! He just forgot!" Elle said exasperatedly

"Was he drunk again?" Brad asked, arms crossed

"Drunk? Brad, what are you talking about?"

"I'm ten, I'm not stupid. I know dad drinks more than he should."

I sighed,

"I took the keys, I didn't want him driving like that. I didn't realize he was going to pick you up otherwise I would have left an hour ago."

"It's not your fault Elle"

"Thanks Brad"

After a minute or two of silence I asked him, "so how'd your science project go?"

At that he jumped into an excited explanation of the detailed town they had built for their banking osada and vinegar volcano to destroy. They built it out of sugar cubes so that it would melt when the "lava" hit.

The next morning we were all meeting at Lee's house to go swimming. Well the guys would all go swimming, but the girls would probably sun bathe for a good portion of the time.

I had iced my eye all night, but the black eye was still pretty bad. My sun glasses covered some of it, but I would need some serious concealer if I wanted it to go unnoticed. I spent almost an hour perfecting my contour and making sure my hair was parted in a way that covered most of the swelling. In the end I still wore sunglasses and my sun hat.

When I got there Lee and Cam and Warren were already in the pool and Rachel and Karen were sunbathing on the pool chairs.

"You coming in Shelley?" Lee asked

"No, I think I'm just going to sunbath"

"Aww you're no fuuun!"

Lee and Cam splashed me as I walked past.

I set up my towel and joined Rachel and Karen.

"So Elle, what's this thing going on with you and Flynn?" Rachel asked

"What _thing_?" I deflect _._

"You two have been hanging out a lot lately." Karen adds"Everyone's talking"

"It's nothing, we're just sort of friends now" I say blushing

"JuSt friends?"

"Yeah, like, after Warren's party and that thing with Patrick, Noah drove me home and we kinda just talked for like 2 hours. He's actually a pretty great guy"

"when he's not being a total jerk and scaring off any guy who tries to ask you out" Rachel nudges my shoulder

"Well yeah, except then" I roll my eyes

After that the gossip turns away from me and I flip over onto my back and just listen. I put my hat over my face to shade it from the sun while I tan my front side.

I'm just drifting off to sleep in the hot sun when I feel something wet grab my ankles. Then two more somethings grab my wrists.

"Aaaahhhh!" I screech "put me down!"

My had falls off of my face as Lee and Warren start swinging me back and forth.

"ONE"they swing me once

I'm screaming for them to put me down.

"TWO" that's twice and I'm still screaming

"THREE" they throw me into the pull and jump in after me.

Cam pulls Karen in and Rachel jumps in on her own before Lee can get back out and pull her in too.

We're all splashing each other and roughing around. I got water in my eyes so I wipe them off. I realize my mistake when my left eye starts to throb with just the little pressure my hand applied.

"Woah, woah, guys stop!" lee shouts and I know I'm screwed.

"Oh my gosh Elle what happened?"

"What happened Elle? Are you okay?"

"What happened to your face!?"

"'What happened to your face' the words every girl wants to hear" I tease, stalling for time

"Seriously Elle, What happened? That looks bad!" Lee asks, his voice full of concern.

"It's nothing, honestly! It was really stupid!" I say, trying to think up an excuse

"What, Elle? What was it?"

"My dad..." I start, not sure where I'm going. Should I tell them? No, they won't understand. They'll blow it way out of proportion. "...he left a kitchen cabinet open last night and I ran straight into it in the dark" there. That was believable.

"So it was just Elle being a klutz again then" Lee teased

"Haha yeah" it kind of hurt how easily he believed that. But I guess it was better than him finding out the truth.

That evening my dad apologized. It was a good apology. It had everything an apology should: he was drunk—he never would hurt me if he knew what he was doing; an admission of guilt—still being drunk was no excuse; an expression of how sorry he felt—he was ashamed of his actions and he was ashamed of what mom would think of him if she had seen him then; an assurance of it's finality—he would do better, he was trying to do better, it would never happen again; and a gift. He meant to give it to me on my sixteenth birthday, but he forgot. It was my mom's watch. It was really nice; it had emerald adornments surrounding the watch face, and most importantly, it was still ticking away steadily


	3. Chapter 3

Authors note: in this au Lee and Elle's birthday is at the end of the first semester, right before Christmas break.

As the school year went on things didn't get any better. He stopped bringing girls home, which wasn't bad, but he stopped going on dates all together. He came home drunk more often, and even when he didn't, you could smell the alcohol on him.

But he kept it together for my birthday. We went out for brunch with the Flynns like we always do on Lee's and my birthday. Then we went back to the Flynn's house and opened up presents. Lee and I got each other matching t-shirts totally coincidentally. My dad gave me what looked like a jewelry box, but when I opened it up, there were car keys inside. Lee and I spent the rest of the day cruising around town in my new car. It was a great birthday.

Christmas break went pretty smoothly as well. We went up to Mammoth with the Flynns for a week and went skiing. When we were really small our parents went and bought a cabin up there together. They wanted their kids to see the snow, and they could afford a much nicer place if we shared it.

Noah and I snuck out one night and sat all bundled up in a sleeping bag just looking at the stars. There were so many more stars up there without all the light pollution.

It was January 9th, the last day before school starts up again, and the anniversary of mom's death. We visited mom's grave in the morning. We made sure it was nice and clean and we put new flowers there for her. We talked to her a little bit and then I took Brad to the car so dad could have a few minutes alone. Then we went home.

Before she died I had gotten my mother to start teaching me how to cook. She thought me a few simple recipes, but my favorite wash her spaghetti sauce. I decided to make that for dinner tonight. This anniversary was always really hard for dad, so I knew he wouldn't want to be cooking. I also wanted to do something to cheer everyone up on our last day of winter break. I went to the store and bought all the ingredients for spaghetti and meatballs and for an apple pie too.

When I got home I washed all the produce, blended the tomatoes and put them in the huge sauce pot to cook. Then I got out the ground beef, made the meat balls, and put them in the sauce. The sauce is supposed to cook for a few hours, so I started on the pie. First the pie crust. Then I started to stew the apples with cinnamon, a little bit of nutmeg, and a lot a lot of sugar. I started cooking probably around one, and by the time pie was in the oven it was almost five. I had made a complete mess in the kitchen, so I started to deal with that. Dad had grabbed the keys and left somewhere around 3. I wasn't too worried; he usually went for long drives on days like this. He wasn't back yet, so I knew I had time to clean up before dinner. I got the pie out at 5:30 and started the pasta boiling.

"How long till dinner? I'm hungry" brad complained

"As soon as dad gets home" I added, "help me set the table

"Uuuggghhh, fiiine" Brad sighed

Brad sat down on the couch playing his DS while I finished cleaning up the kitchen.

"I'm hungry" Brad complained again a few minutes later.

"You can have some bread if you want"

We both had some bread and butter while we watched the clock

"Okay, if dad's not home by 7, we'll just eat"

"7?! That's sooo long though" Brad wined

He went back to his DS and I texted Lee for a while.

"It's seVEn! Time to eat!" Brad exclaimed

"We'll give dad 10 more minutes while I heat the food back up" I cede

We ate and cleaned up from dinner before dad got home. I set a plate aside for him and put away all of the food.

Brad and I watched TV until 9. I was mostly just texting Noah, so I didn't mind that he was watching Nickelodeon. I sent him to bed at 9 since it was a school night.

I called my dad a few times that night, but he never answered. After everything with mom and her car accident, especially with how much dad's been drinking lately, I didn't want to go to bed not knowing where he was.

I was texting Lee, making plans for after school tomorrow when he finally got home. It was 11:30.

He walked straight to the kitchen and opened the fridge.

"Where have you been?"

He turned around slowly, "What're youdoinup so late?" He asked, his speech heavily slurred.

"I was waiting up for you!"

He turned back to the fridge.

"I made us dinner. And you missed it" I said

"Ooooo! Would you look at that" he said, seeing his plate on the table for the first time.

"You can't keep doing this, you know! I can't believe you drove here like this!" I whisper shout

"I took a—a taxi" he grumbled towards his plate

"Where's the car? Do you even remember?" I admonish him

"I'll get itnthmornin"

"Mom would be ASHAMED of you! She'd never recognize the man you've become!" I turn to storm up stairs, but he grabs my wrist. In a second he's up and yanks me around to face him. I turn and all the air leaves my body as his fist makes contact with my chest. He must have been going for a punch to the gut, but because I'm so much shorter than him and because he was so drunk he got me right at the base of my ribs, by my diaphragm.

I dropped to the floor, gasping for breath. He sat back down and continued eating his cold spaghetti.

The second I regained enough breath to even think, I ran up to my room, still gasping for air, and locked the door. I lied on my bed, curled in a ball. I started crying as soon as I had the breath to and I didn't stop until I had fallen asleep.

I woke up to my phone ringing.

"Hello, who's this?" I hadn't bothered to look at the number.

"Hey, Elle, sOMebody slept late" came Lee's voice, much too cheerfully.

"What time is it?"

"It's 7:30"

"Shit!"

"Yeah, I was just calling to say I was going to be late picking you up. I'll be at your house in ten minutes if you still want a ride"

"Yes, yes, I do!"

"Okay, see you in ten"

I sat up slowly. It hurt. It hurt to breath. I slowly stood up, and looking in the mirror, I practiced walking normally, not hunched over. I got my uniform out of the closet and slowly put it on, slipped on my shoes, washed my face, and grabbed my makeup bag. I grabbed my backpack just as I heard Lee honk out front. I didn't race down the stairs.

I did my makeup on the way to school. We were only a minute late to first period, so we didn't get in trouble.

At lunch when everyone was talking about our plans for after school—who was giving rides to whom, who was coming late, who had to leave early, etc—I told them I couldn't go.

"What? Elle, come on!" Cam moaned

"I know, my dad freaked out on me yesterday, and I'm not allowed to hangout this week"

"You're dad's never home till six anyway, why can't you hangout for a little bit?"

"Look, yesterday was the anniversary of my mom's death, so things have been pretty tense lately. I don't think my dad ever really got over my mom's death. He was too busy taking care of me and Brad, making sure wE were okay. And, like, now that Brad and I have moved on with our lives, I think he's realizing that he never really got over his own grief" as I said it, I realized that I actually believed it, and I added, "...so I should probably lay low this week, especially if I want to be free this weekend." Karen was having a "back to school" party this Saturday.

Lee and everyone went to go hangout immediately after school, so Noah gave me a ride home. I didn't do homework even though I already had homework assigned in all my classes. Instead I spent the afternoon researching two things: AA, and what happens to kids who get sent to CPS and foster care.

Thursday after school everyone was "studying" over at Warren's house. I had already said i couldn't hangout all week, but I was bored. I walked of the Flynn's house and hung out with Noah. We talked for a while, but soon we lapsed into kissing. Everything was fine until he rolled me over onto his bed. I was having a good time, that wasn't the problem, the problem was that I had the weight of a football player pressing down onto my bruised ribs.

"Ow ow ow! Stop!"

"What? What's wrong? Did I hurt you?" Noah asked, concerned.

"Can you get off for a second?" He had pushed himself up onto his hands when I cried out, but at my request he rolled off of me and sat up.

"What's wrong?"

"It wasn't your fault, some girl kneed me in the chest during the game yesterday, I'm just sore" the game had been brutal, but I popped some Advil and muscled through.

"Let me see"

"Right away Dr. Flynn" i said teasingly

"Oh my gosh Elle that looks really bad" there was a deep purple bruise about six inches below my right breast.

"Gee, thanks" I say sarcastically

"I'm serious, Elle! I think you might've broken a rib!" He touched the bruise gently, feeling my ribs underneath it.

"Ow! That hurts!"

"I'm sorry" Noah adds, "seriously though, you should get that checked out!"

"I'm fiiiine" I dismiss, "besides, if its broken all they'll do is rap it and tell me not to hurt in again, it's not like you can set a broken rib"

"Still"

"A few Advil and I don't even notice it"

"Alright..." he bends down and ever so lightly kisses the bruise.


	4. Chapter 4

A month or so later. The dance happened between last chapter and this one, so Lee knows about Elle and Noah and is fine with it.

Tomorrow was Brad's birthday. I got him a new game for his DS and a pair of swim trunks for the summer. It was Thursday, a school night, but as per tradition brad didn't have to go to school on his birthday. We were going to stay up and watch movies until midnight, when he turned eleven.

I just got home from soccer practice and I had to do some homework before we started watching movies tonight.

"Hey Brad?"

"Yeah" he called from the living room.

"I have some homework I have to work on. As soon as dad gets home we'll order pizza"

"Okay"

I went upstairs and did my math homework. Then I read a chapter of Huckleberry Finn and took a shower. I walked downstairs, still towel drying my hair. Brad was playing Super Mario Brothers on the Wii.

"Is dad still not home?" I ask

"Nope"

"Alright, I'm just going to order pizza now" it was already seven

"What do you want on it?"

"Can we get meat lovers?"

"Sure"

I called the pizza place and ordered one extra large meat lovers pizza.

"So what movies are we going to watch tonight?" I ask

"We're gonna have a Star Wars marathon"

"The originals" I ask

"Of course" he confirms

"Okay, we'll start the movie when the pizza gets here"

I wonder where dad is. He's been pretty good this past month, getting home on time, being fairly sober. I had printed out some AA information, and left it under the windshield wiper of his car while he was at work. Hopefully he got it. Whatever, I'm sure he's fine.

Ding Dong

I go pay for the pizza and grab some napkins and two root beers from the kitchen.

After _A New Hope_ I clean up from the pizza and we start _The Empire Strikes Back_. I fell asleep halfway through.

Brad POV

Dad gets back around midnight. He walks in without a word of explanation, without a word of acknowledgement. He's in the kitchen behind us now, so I pause the movie and get up.

"Where were you?" I ask, walking towards him

"At work"

"It's past midnight! Where have you been?" I shout

"I got—I got suspended, so I went for a drink" he slurs out and I notice he does reek of alcohol.

"Your dRuNk?" I ask, "On my BIRTHDAY, you're drunk?"

"So what?" He turns towards the fridge and I shove him. He lurches forward and catches himself on the fridge.

"Brad, I think that's enough. You should go to your room" Elle warns me, her voice serious.

I my eyes don't leave my father, and I stand there, watching him. He pushes himself up off from against the fridge, and he looks like he's going to turn around and say something. He doesn't. Instead he whips around and back hands me across the forehead. He's wearing his class ring and I feel it sting as it scratches me. Before I can do anything, Elle is between me and dad, her back to me.

"Go to your room!" She shouts this time.

I run upstairs and lock my door. _SHE yelled at ME! Dad hit me, and she yelled at ME! How is this MY fault? HE'S the one who's drunk! HE'S the adult here! I'm done._

I grab my backpack, dump everything out of it—books, pencils, toys, everything. I storm around my room, fuming. I grab pajamas, shorts, jeans, two t-shirts, underwear, and my toothbrush. I empty my piggy bank on my bed and put all the bills in my wallet. I have $40 and two target gift cards which I don't know how much money is on them. I put on my sneakers, grab my jacket and a flashlight and storm back downstairs.

I'm about to walk out the front door when movement in the kitchen coughs my eye. When I came downstairs, I thought it was empty, but now I see Elle lying on the ground, curled up on her side. I rush over to her. "Elle!"

Elle POV

When I wake up the movie is paused and brad is gone. It takes me a second to realize what woke me, but then I hear voices in the kitchen.

"Where were you?"

"At work"

"It's past midnight! Where have you been?" Brad is shouting now

I walk over to the kitchen

"I got—I got suspended, so I went for a drink" dad's definitely drunk. He's slurring his words and he reeks. His clothes are disheveled too and he's hunched over.

"Your dRuNk? On my BIRTHDAY, you're drunk?"

"So what?" Even though I cant see his face, I know that broke Brad. I'm not surprised when he shoves dad, hard enough to mock him over.

"Brad I think that's enough. You should go to your room" Brad's just standing there staring at dad, waiting for a response, but I know dad and I know how he is when he's drunk. I can see him getting ready to do something, and I go to step in front of Brad, but I'm too slow and dad back hands him. His head whips to the side and I hear dad's hand smack against my little brother's face.

I'm in front of him now, between him and dad.

"Go to you room!" I tell him again. I hear him storm up the stairs, thank goodness.

"I got suspended from work today!" He snarls at me

"I heard"

"Because of you" he spits the words at me and pushes his index finger into my chest.

"How is that mY fault?"

"I know it was you! "Inappropriate behavior"" he says mockingly and puts air quotes around "inappropriate behavior"

"I know it was you that put those flyers on my car" He sneers as he walks forward, forcing me to back into the pantry door.

All of a sudden he grabs my neck both one hand and pushes me up against the wall. He squeezes until I can't breath, but even if I could, his grip was still extremely painful, his nails digging into my skin.

"You think you're so much better than me, but I know what goes on at those parties you go to! I know you drink just as much as I do!" He sneers, spit flying onto my face. My toes are barely touching the ground and I can feel my face turning red. I grab at his hand and claws at his fingers, but his grip is too strong and my vision is going fuzzy. He's still talking, but I've stopped listening, I'm just trying to remove his hand from my throat. Right as I'm convinced I'm going to pass out, he releases me, but before I can even gasp for air, he punches me in the face and everything goes black.

I wake up seconds later when his toe nudges my gut.

"Get up"

I'm on my side, slightly curled up. I'm having trouble getting air into my lungs, so I lie there gasping.

He nudges me again, harder this time.

"Get up!"

It doesn't help my breathing.

He kicks me this time.

"GET UP"

He kicks me for or five times more—I wasn't counting—each kick punctuated with a "Get up!"

On the last one he falls and when he gets up, he just walks away.

I lie there, on the ground and in excruciating pain, trying desperately just to get air into my lungs.

It takes me a few minutes before I can breath again, but I don't get up. I don't know if I can.

"Elle!"

Brad rushes over to my side and kneels down. "Are you okay?" He asks, his voice slightly panicked.

"I'm fine" I croak, my voice not as convincing as my words, "Just help me up"

I roll over on to my back and grab his hands. He does moats of the work in pulling me up. He's getting pretty strong. Once I'm up, I lean on him heavily.

"Help me up to my room, I need to grab my stuff"

"We're leaving?" He asks

"Yeah"

He helps me up the stairs to my room. The longer I am up right and walking, the easier it gets. I hear dad come back in from the garage and we run the last few steps to my room.

"Lock the door!" I empty my backpack onto the ground and storm around my room, packing the essentials.

I hear dad stumbling up the stairs and I move faster. My toothbrush is in the bathroom, but at this point dad's banging at the door, so I'll have to go without.

"OPEN UP!" BANG BANG BANG

"We're going to have to go out the window" I tell Brad,

"But there's a screen"

"Under my bed, there's a makeshift rope ladder, give it to me" I tell him, popping the screen off. It's just a doubled over rope with a bunch of holes tied in it. He hands it to me and I loop the one end around the foot of my bed.

"IM NOT THROUGH WITH YOU" BANG BANG BANG

"My keys are in the kitchen, so we'll have to walk" I the end of the rope is attached to a nerf football which I drop out the window. I check my back pocket and find that by some miracle my phone is still there and has decent charge left.

"You have all your stuff?"

"Yeah"

"Then climb"

He climbs down the rope and I follow him. When I get to the bottom, I throw the football back into my room and it pulls the rope with it. I get it the first try because I've had practice sneaking out to Lee's and to parties and stuff.

We run the first few blocks, Brad egging me on, but I'm out of breath soon and I make him slow to a quick walk. We take the walking path that goes between peoples yards.

"Elle, where are we going?"

"We're going to the Flynn's house, they'll know what to do"

"Elle! There friends with dad! We can't go there! They'll tell him where we are!"

"Yeah, they're dad's friends, but they're our friends too, we can trust them!"

We had stopped walking and were arguing in the path now.

"It doesn't matter! Grownups only ever trust other grownups! They never believe kids!"

"We can trust the Flynn's!"

"No! I'm not going there! They'll just send us back home!"

"Okay. How about we just stay with Lee and Noah? Their parents won't even know we're there. Mr. and Mrs. Flynn may be dad's friends, but Lee and Noah are mine and they would never betray us!"

"How will their parents not find out?"

"It's the middle of the night, their parents are asleep, all we have to do is hide in the guest room until they go to work, and they'll never know. I've done it a dozen times, it's not hard"

"Fine, but their parents CAN'T know!"

"Okay, I'm calling Lee so he can let us in the back door"

We start walking again.

I call Lee three times, but he doesn't answer. We're a block from their house now, so I give up and just call Noah. He answers on the third ring.

"Hey Shelley, can't sleep?" Noah asks teasing

"Noah, something's happened. Brad and I need a place to stay tonight, but you can't tell your parents" the words tumble out of my mouth, my voice still raspy.

"What happened, Elle? What's wrong?" He asks, worried now.

"We're outside your back door, let us in and I'll tell you everything"

I open there gate and we get to their back door just as Noah opens it.

"Elle, What happened?" He whispers

"Wait until we're in your room"

Instead of going strait up the stairs I walk past them into the kitchen and open the freezer. I can only find one ice pack and I do t want to make too much noise, so I grab a bag of frozen peas. I hand the ice pack and a dish towel to Brad and grab a dish towel for myself and then head up to Noah's room.

"Now will you tell me what happened?"

"Can you get Lee first? He wasn't answering his phone and I don't want to explain this twice. And a first aid kit?" I add as an afterthought

"One sec"

I have the ice on my eye and Brad has his on his forehead.

"No parents, remember"

"I remember"

Noah comes back in with Lee.

"Oh my gosh! Shelley, what happened?"

"Noah, where's the first aid kit?" He hands it to me. I start to tell them what happened, my voice still going, as I find an antiseptic wipe to clean the blood of Brad's forehead.

"I didn't know how to tell you guys, and I didn't want you to think less of us, so I just didn't tell you before. My dad has a drinking problem, it was never great, but I could always deal with him. Except tonight he came home drunker than I've ever seen him. He was suspended at work today so he was really upset." The more I spoke, the raspier my voice was getting, and as I sat there, finally safe, the adrenaline I had been running on since Brad helped me up began to wear off. I'm looking through the first aid kit for a bandaid that's long enough for his cut, all too aware of their eyes on me.

"Here, this is probably the best thing" Noah says gently, finding the butterfly bandaids and handing them to me.

"Shelley, did he hurt you?" Lee asks, his voice small, and more child like than I've heard it in a long time.

I nodded my head and sobbed, just once. Noah sat down next to me and put his arm around me. I nestled my head into the nook between his shoulder and neck.

Brad continued for me, "He got home just after midnight. He reeked of alcohol. He was supposed to come home after work to watch movies like we always do the night before my birthday, but he never showed, so when he got home I kinda got mad at him. I shoved him and he backhanded me and then Elle got between us and I ran upstairs and I just packed my stuff. When I came back downstairs, he was gone and Elle was on the ground. She was so still I thought she was dead."

"Can we stay here tonight?" I asked them

"Of course"

"You can't tell your parents, you can't tell anyone" Brad added

"You can't stay with him, Brad. We have to tell sOmeone." Noah says gently

"No! What if they don't believe us? What if they send us back?" Brad asks

"They won't send you back" Noah tries to reassure Brad

"Can we figure this all out in the morning?" I ask

Noah looks like he's about to protest, but Lee steps in, "Of Course"

"Is there somewhere we can sleep?" I ask

"Where your parents won't see us in the morning?" Brad adds

"You guys can sleep on my bed" Lee offers

"Lee and Noah and I are probably going to talk for a little while longer, I'll try not to wake you" I tell Brad

"Goodnight" he says yawning

"Happy Birthday, Brad" I add, "I'm sorry it turned out this way"

Brad leaves the room.

"What happened to _you_ , Elle?"

Lee asks

"Brad just told you" I say, knowing that's not what he means

"But what happened when Brad went upstairs?" He clarifies

I breath in and blow it out through my mouth very slowly.

"A while back I left some AA flyers under his windshield while he was at work, i thought that way he wouldn't know it was me. Anyway, I guess he got suspended today, for inappropriate behavior, but when he got home, he blamed it on me because of flyers"

"Oh, Elle...that's not your fault" Lee says, pulling me into a hug, "none of this is your fault" I hug him as tightly as my my bruised chest will allow and cry into his shoulder, tonight's events finally catching up to me.

"It is though!" I sob, letting go of Lee so I can look him in the eyes, "it's all my fault! I should have told someone! I should have told _you_!"

"Maybe you should have, but that doesn't make it your fault!" Noah argues

"No, it just makes me responsible!" I choke out

"He's your _father_. HE'S the one who's responsible!" Lee adds

"You don't understand, Lee! You're not an older sibling!"

"What don't I understand?"

"It's like, yeah, my dad's the one responsible here, I know that, but as Brad's older sister, I have responsibilities too! Because my dad decided to fall apart and be a _complete piece of shit_ , the responsibility fell on me to protect Brad, and I failed him. I did, not just dad"

"You're right, Elle" Noah tells me, "it was your responsibility to protect Brad, and you did. You shielded him for as long as you could, and the second things got out of hand you got him out of there. You are an amazing older sister to Brad!"

Noah kisses me on the forehead and hugs me.

"I can't even imagine what I would do in that situation, Elle" Noah says softly

"You would probably could would've had him on the ground in five seconds" I say, teasingly

"Aww, Elle, I'm such and idiot! You're always telling me not to fight so much and I never listen! I must seem like such an ass to you!"

"No, no! You make me feel safe, I know you're always looking out for me" I assure him.

We lied there on Noah's queen bed, just talking, not about dad, not about anything serious, just talking. It was nice being with the both of them.

Noah POV

Tonight was crazy. Elle calls me at almost one in the morning, shows up with her little brother, two bags, and a black eye.

When I finally learned what was wrong, I was devastated for her. She had been acting a little weird for a while now, a little skittish and evasive , but I just figured she didn't like my fighting habit. I should have known it was something more.

We got everyone patched up and comfortable and agreed to work out the rest in the morning. Brad was convinced my parents would send them back if they found out. Lee and I'll skip school tomorrow and help figure this out. Brad went to sleep in Lee's room around 1:15, but Elle stayed to talk with Lee and I. We were all lying on my bed just talking. Elle fell asleep about ten minutes ago.

"What're we going to do?" Lee asks

"We'll tell mom and dad and then they can stay with us, when I move out this summer one of them can have my room and the other'll take the guest room"

"But Brad said no parents"

"He's just afraid they're not going to believe him. If we tell them and then they show him that they believe him, he won't have anything to be afraid of anymore"

We lapse into silence as we both consider what to do.

I hear something strange next to me and I look over and see Elle. Her eyes are still closed and she's still lying on her back, but her mouth is slightly open and she's choking.

"Elle's choking, help me flip onto her side!" I tell Lee as I sit up to do exactly that.

We roll her over onto her side and the vomit pores out of he throat. She's waking up now, but I scoop her up bridal style and carry her to the bathroom. I put her down next to the toilet and turn the nightlight on. Lee's right behind me.

"Can you take care of her? I have to go clean the vomit off of my bed"

"Yeah"

Lee POV

I sit down next to Elle on the bathroom floor. She's not just shivering, she's full on shaking, her hands gripping the sides of the toilet bowl. She grabs a wad of toilet paper and coughs a wet cough into it. We sit there for a few minutes, her shaking and coughing and me rubbing her back with one hand. I hold her hair back while she vomits once more, and I notice that the toilet paper she was coughing into is oddly dark.

"Close your eyes for a second, I'm turning the light on" I warn.

She puts an arm over her eyes and I turn the light on. It takes a few seconds for my own eyes to adjust, but when they do they confirm my fear.

"Noah!" I whisper shout as he walks back to his room with a new set of sheets in his hands.

"Yeah?"

"She's vomiting blood, what do we do?"

"I'm waking up mom and dad, we need to take her to the hospital"


	5. Chapter 5

Noah POV

"Noah!"

"Yeah?"

"She's vomiting up blood, what do we do?"

"I'm waking up mom and dad, we need to take her to the hospital"

I walk over to their room and open the door. I sit down on their bed and shake their feet, "wake up. Mom, dad, wake up" i say, in a normal speaking voice.

"What? What's wrong?" My dad asks, disoriented.

"There's a bit of an emergency, so I need you to listen while I explain"

"What happened? Is everyone okay?" My mom asks, awake now.

"Elle came over here about an hour ago. She had Brad with her and a black eye. Brad made us promise not to tell you, but I am telling you now. Their dad can home drunk last night and got abusive with Brad and Elle. I thought they were both fine given the circumstances, but a few minutes ago Elle started vomiting up blood. We need to take her to the hospital, and we're going need your help with the insurance and the paperwork and everything." I finish

"Mike hurt his kids?" My dad asks in disbelief

"Yes, Brad thought you wouldn't believe them because you're friends with their dad, that's why we didn't wake you earlier"

"Okay, we'll take Elle to the hospital"

"We'll be in the car in five minutes"

I go back to the bathroom.

"Dump out the waste basket and grab the hand towel" I tell Lee as I pick up Elle again.

Elles shaking in my arms and she's scarily pale.

"You're going to be okay. We're taking you to the hospital and everything's going to be fine" I say for her sake as much as for Lee's and my own.

Lee runs around me and opens the garage door and then the car door.

"Get in, I'll hand her to you"

Lee puts the wast basket and the towel in the car and slides in. I lay Elle down on the back seat, her head resting on Lee's lap. Mom and dad walk into the garage, hastily dressed.

"I'll follow with Brad" I tell them

"Okay, drive safe"

"You too"

I walk upstairs and quickly get dressed. Then I walk into Lee's room and sit down on the bed. I gently shake Brad's shoulder.

"Brad, wake up"

"What? What is it?"

"Elle had to go to the hospital, we're going to go too, okay?"

"What happened? Is she okay?"

"I'll explain everything on the way there, just grab your stuff"

Brad grabs his backpack and follows me out the door.

Once we're on the road I start explaining everything. How Elle started throwing up, how I had to tell my parents, how they didn't question the accusations, they just took care of Elle.

In ten minutes we're at the hospital and I'm finding parking. We go inside the ER and I see mom, dad, and Lee at the front desk talking to a nurse.

"How's Elle?" I ask

"They're taking care of her" dad says

"Do you know what happened to her, young man?" The nurse asks

"Her dad beat her" I say

"Anything more specific?" She asks again

"My dad came home drunk" Brad cuts in, "we got into a fight and he smacked me across the face. Elle stepped in between us and told me to go upstairs. When I came back down a few minutes later, she was on the ground, she wasn't moving. But I helped her up and we grabbed our stuff and bolted. By the time we got to their house, she seemed fine"

"Okay, thank you sweetheart"

"Is Elle going to be okay?" Brad asks

"They're taking good care of her"

We were directed to a waiting room and mom and dad went to go figure out all the paperwork.

The police came and talked to Brad and me. They needed to file a report because what happened was technically assault. Then CPS came and talked to Brad privately, then my parents. I think my parents were actually made emergency guardians of Elle and Brad after their mom died. If something ever happened to their dad, they didn't have any extended family or anything, just us. The CPS officer disappeared after talking to my parents, so I think everything's fine custody wise.

We were all sitting in the waiting room for hours before we were allowed to see Elle. Brad had fallen asleep, despite his best efforts, and was now dozing against Lee's shoulder. Mom and dad were talking quietly across from us about how they couldn't believe it, how they had never even seen Mike drunk before, how they missed Elle's mom. After a little bit dad asked if Lee or I knew how long this had been going on, if there had been any signs.

"A month or so back I saw she had a really bad bruise on her ribs, she said it was from a soccer game, that a girl had kneed her in the chest. I just figured I missed that at the game, you know. I had football practice, so I missed the first quarter." I admitted, "it looked pretty bad too. I told her she should get it checked out, it might be broken, but she just downed some Advil and went on like it was nothing."

"Yeah, a few months ago she came over with a black eye. She had covered it up with makeup, but we threw her in the pool and it washed off. She said she had run into a kitchen cabinet the night before," Lee added, "she's such a clutz, you know, it made sense. But now I'm not so sure."

A little while later a doctor came out and the CPS officer reappeared.

"Elle's awake, we can go in and see her after the CPS officer is done talking to her" dad informed us

"Does he really have to talk to her now?!" Lee asked upset, "as soon as she's woken up?"

"If she wants to stay with us after she's released from the hospital, then yes," dad says exhausted

A few minutes later the nurse says we can go in and see her.

The end.

Sorry for the crappy ending, I got bored with this story ?


End file.
